TOL Weekly Newsletter

• 1/16 - Tacoma Art Museum Meet-Up - see below
• 1/17 - Deadline to complete the Choice Enrollment form for next school year if you'd like to attend a school that is not your neig hborhood school or TOL.
• 1/20 - NO SCHOOL (MLK Junior Day Holiday)
• 1/30 Midnight - Deadline for all TOL Schoolwork for Fall Semester
• 1/31 - NO SCHOOL (Teacher Work Day)
• 2/3 - Spring Semester begins

The deadline to complete schoolwork in all classes is 11:59PM on Thursday, January 30. There is no school for students on 1/31/25 as teachers compile and report final Fall Semester Grades. Spring Semester begins on Monday, 2/3/25 where students will see their new classes in Edgenuity.

There are 13 school days and 18 calendar days left for students to do schoolwork this semester. This is plenty of time to catch up if you're behind. We find that low grades are most often the result of missing work so this is the time to finish strong!

If you are planning to leave TOL for Spring semester, please begin the process early in January by contacting the school you want to go to so they can begin the process. There's no need to contact TOL as the new building will contact us to obtain records. At this change in grading periods, you have the right to return to your neighborhood school only. A change to any other school would need to use the Parent-Initiated transfer application and is subject to approval.

Looking for a way to honor Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday January 20 (no school)? Check-out Tacoma’s Annual MLK Celebration. The program begins at 1pm (Community Outreach Fair at 11 am) and takes place at the Greater Tacoma Convention Center (1500 Commerce St, Tacoma). Or watch the event on TV Tacoma or streamed live on tvtacoma.com or Facebook. More info here.

Join Tacoma Online community members at the Tacoma Art Museum on January 16, from 5-6 pm. Entrance to the museum is free at that time (from 5-8 pm). Here are the current exhibitions on view.

We’re excited to announce the launch of SchooLinks, a new platform to simplify the High School and Beyond Plan process for our students.

SchooLinks provides a centralized place for students to complete and track every HSBP requirement from middle school through graduation. This tool can help students explore careers, prepare for college, and track progress toward graduation.

SchooLinks is accessible through Clever using your child’s district login. I encourage you to explore SchooLinks with your child and see how it supports their goals.

• on TPS laptop, open Edge web browser
• in upper left of bookmarks, choose folder, "TPS Favorites"
• Choose CLEVER, locate the schoolinks logo and click it
• in Schoolinks, you'll see a list of "to-do" tasks based upon your grade level
• begin working on your to-dos!

Seniors - The graduation requirement for completion of your High School and Beyond Plan will be launching soon on Schoolinks. To get a head start on this, you can login to Schoolinks and begin completing all 12th grade tasks. This will transfer over to your High School and Beyond Plan.

We are hard at work beginning our new ASB organization and have lots of representation in most grades, but we're still seeking interested students in grades 9 and 10 who are interested in student leadership and growing events and clubs at TOL. No prior experience necessary! If you're interested, please email Ms. Purdin at spurdin@tacoma.k12.wa.us or Mr. Stowe at jstowe1@tacoma.k12.wa.us

Secondary (6- 12) art teacher HEIDI WYGLE will be hosting in an in-person work session for her art classes on January 16, from 9 – 2, at the downtown Tacoma TOL office. This work session will be held for students who are significantly behind in one of their courses and would like to get through a significant amount of work in one day, with the teacher present in the room. Questions and RSVPs can be emailed to rfoster@tacoma.k12.wa.us.

If your secondary (6 – 12) student is behind on courses and needs a quiet place to work during the last few weeks of the semester, please email rfoster@tacoma.k12.wa.us. More details to follow. The last day to complete all coursework is January 30.

ALE students have two important responsibilities that are different than in-person schools.

The first is about attendance and truancy. Each full-time TOL student is assigned an advisor. We call them PACE Coaches. They are here to be your person! They will help you learn the TOL way and excel in your schoolwork. You are required to meet with your PACE Coach every week in a brief videochat meeting on Microsoft Teams. This is how we take attendance. Missing even a few of these meetings counts as truancy in ALE schools and will result in us having to remove you from TOL. Not only are these meetings required for attendance, but they're very helpful to your success so please plan on this.

The second is about making adequate academic progress in your classes at TOL. Every month, your PACE Coach will meet with you to assess your academic progress during a regular weekly meeting. If you're not making academic progress, you will be required to work with your teachers more directly which could even require you to come in-person for extra help. We will work with you throughout this process but if you continue to not make adequate progress, ALE schools like TOL will be required to remove you from TOL to return to in-person learning.

Paul Eliot
TOL HS Assistant Principal
peliot@tacoma.k12.wa.us

Primary guardians of students are all setup to receive weekly progress reports from the Edgenuity system. These usually come early on Monday mornings. For each class you'll see:

• % of the course that should be complete
• % of the course that has been completed
• ACTUAL GRADE - this is the big % to look for and pay attention to - this is your current grade.

This is an example from last Spring where you can see the start date and end dates from last year.

• The course and teacher are list at the top
• On the right, you can see progress. This student is slightly behind in the class as they should be 97% complete, but are only 89% complete on the day of the progress report.
• On the left, you see a big grade percentage, this is the one to pay attention to - it's called ACTUAL Grade and this 91% is currently an A- in the class.
• The smaller print grade is called overall grade and it is the grade the student has received on all of the work they're turned in. It doesn't account for missing work.

The first thing a student sees when they login to Edgenuity is their dashboard with a tile for each course they have. Ask them to login in and show you theirs! Check out the two images below for info on how to understand this dashboard and the course map for each course.

If your student is struggling with their mental health and wellbeing, we want to remind you that there are numerous community partners available to you for support. For more information about local mental health resources and services, please visit the Tacoma Schools Student Supports webpage for a list of agencies and programs that can work with you and your family.

I am wondering if we should also add in information about crisis lines so families that might not be aware of them will see it.

If you need immediate crisis intervention for your student, please utilize one of the following options without delay.
Call 9-8-8 (national hotline)
24/7/365 support for thoughts of suicide, substance use concerns, and any other type of emotional distress.
Pierce County Crisis Line (local hotline)
1-800-576-7764
Ayuda En Español Lifeline ofrece 24/7, gratuito servicios en español, no es necesario hablar ingles si usted necesita ayuda.
1-888-628-9454
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (24/7):
800-273-8255
Crisis Text Line:
Text CONNECT to 741741 from anywhere in the USA, anytime
Teen Link:
1.866.TeenLink • 866.833.6546

Click on each link to go to our channels where you can follow us.

Tacoma Online is a K-12 school that provides students an anywhere/anytime online school experience. Students engage in academic learning led by teachers, and in grades 6-12 through a platform called Edgenuity. While students generally participate in learning activities independently, they are provided multiple forms of support.

Email: TOL@tacoma.k12.wa.us

Website: https://tol.tacomaschools.org/

Location: 912 Broadway - Tacoma, WA 98402

Phone: 253-571-1545

Tacoma Public Schools does not discriminate in any programs or activities on the basis of sex, race, creed, religion, color, national origin, age, veteran or military status, sexual orientation, gender expression or identity, disability, or the use of a trained dog guide or service animal and provides equal access to the Boy Scouts and other designated youth groups. The following employees have been designated to handle questions and complaints of alleged discrimination:

• Civil Rights Coordinator: Renee Trueblood, 253-571-1252, civilrights@tacoma.k12.wa.us
• Title IX Coordinator: Wayne Greer, 253-571-1191, wgreer@tacoma.k12.wa.us
• 504 Coordinator: Elise Friedrich-Nielsen, 253-571-1065, efriedr@tacoma.k12.wa.us

Tacoma Schools Mailing address: P.O. Box 1357, Tacoma, WA 98401-1357.